WOOSTER, Ohio — Ten Franciscan University Cross Country athletes traveled to compete in the unscored Wooster Invitational to gain experience in their first college race of the season. Many runners achieving personal bests to make the day a success.

The group, consisting of mostly freshmen and new runners, ran a shorter course than most invitational courses, with a 4k race for the women and 5k for the men in contrast to the usual 6k and 8k respectively.

"It was a good opportunity to get some of the newer runners into a little bit shorter of a race to adjust to the college competition on a smaller scale," head coach Dan Kuebler said.

Senior Randi Yeager led the Lady Barons, placing 20th out of 52 women runners with a time of 17:42. Yeager ran part of her freshman year but was unable to finish the season due to injury. She took the last two years off only to return for her final year at Franciscan.

"She looks very strong this year, much stronger than a few years ago," Kuebler said.

Finishing for the Barons in 30th, 31st, and 32nd place respectively were Cody Shurter with a time of 19:38, Ricky Staniszewski with a personal record of 19:40, and Joe Lamontagne with a time of 19:42.

"It's a pretty difficult course, and a lot of them went out a little too fast and a little eager the first mile, but that's something that you expect from freshmen," Kuebler said. "They'll learn and adjust and I'm happy with the efforts that they gave today. It's a learning experience for them."

Kuebler will travel with the rest of the team to Westminster to face several Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference teams at the Fisher Invite on Saturday, August 30 at 10am.